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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Less than an hour after sending my entry to the Windhammer prize, I thought of two changes to make to it.

They didn't come before, did they?

When I hit send, I felt a sense of relief that it had been done, so I must have felt a bit stressed about it. This is probably why I didn't have the ideas to change the book.

However, the changes are extremely minor and have nothing to do with the game itself, so I guess I should be happy that I want to change it in minor ways rather than the change being something that completely mucks up the game.

I knew it was time when I was just scrolling up and down the document, not changing anything any more.

If there is one thing that writing this book has taught me, it is that a book needs to be picked through with a fine tooth comb once it is finished. It needs to be read by people who have had nothing to do with the book (I thank my fiancee for doing this. XXX) and and their opinions need to be taken on board and then it needs to be proof read.

Finishing a book is only the beginning. However, I do not want to think about these things as I write or I will never finish a book. That is a very common trap for writers.

I enjoy the creative process of writing and I enjoy finishing. I enjoy the revision process less so, but that is what needs to be done, because every first draft I write is riddled with mistakes. I'm sure I will make fewer mistakes the more I do this, but I think that no one alive ever has produced a perfect book on their first draft.

However, 'perfection' can never be reached. I'm sure if I looked at my entry further, I would change words purely because I thought other words were better. They would not add anything to the book; they would just make a different book. Those changes would depend on my whims. I got to that stage last night, but decided that I would sleep on it before emailing the book off. I looked at the book this morning and played through a couple of bits. I made a couple of very minor changes and then started scrolling up and down. That is when the timer in my brain went off, telling me to get the book out of the oven and start to serve it to people.

I look forward to the Windhammer prize. I get constructive feedback which I have found invaluable. I also get to read a lot of fresh amateur gamebooks. The voting begins on the 14th September and you can send in your votes until the 30th October. This is so we can read through all the books and make a good judgement of all of them, so we can choose a two favourites to vote for.

I look forward to it. However, I am now going to do something that doesn't involve checking a gamebook. I've had enough of that for the time being.

The idea of these books were to educate me in the mechanics of writing gamebooks. This was after a few gamebooks I put out there did not get good reviews.

It has been an education. However, I started this a year ago, made lots of plans for books, had ideas for more books and then left it. I then left it for several months before decided that I shoud just finish the project. I now have.

The last lesson that my short gamebook collection has taught me is the value of finishing projects. Unfinished books do not teach us anything and are just a waste of time. However, my pronlem is that every time I write a book, I get two more ideas. It's an exponential nightmare.

I need to put a lot of vague ideas to the side and finish something concrete. I then need to select the ideas that will bring forth the most valuable products. Of course, I need to learn to be that selective too.

I have also finished a book for the Windhammer Short Gamebook competition. The closing date for entries is 7th September if you have a short gamebook lying around.